Front

 We live on a lovely, quiet street.  We can spend an hour or more out front without a car passing us.  We are starting to take advantage of that for the very first time.  It's a great area for the kids to ride bikes or scooters, to shoot the planes Grandma sent, or to explore a little.  I realize that when Basia was the age of Soren and Cassia, I let her play out front of our Las Cruces house by herself, and that street was quite a bit busier.  It's hard to shake the extra supervision and requirements of foster parenting even though they are my own kids now.  I think Soren would feel too afraid to go out front by himself, anyway, but Cassia would probably love the independence and would definitely follow my rules for staying near.  That's a big step for me, though!

Here's Brishen using Basia's former basketball to get a plane out of the tree.

 Here's why it's her former basketball!  He got it stuck in the tree, too.  I love how you can't see that it's being held by anything when, in fact, it was held tight by a giant thorn!  We got the ball free, but the thorn had done its permanent damage.  Basia needs a new ball.

We are also hoping to eventually get to know some neighbors better if we spend more time in front.  It worked already!  We met a grandpa and his 2-year-old grandson as they walked along our street and stayed for a long time to play.  The little boy has no one to play with, and we have an abundance of play mates, so we hope to get together now and then!

I absolutely adore this warm February weather before the March winds and before the April through October mosquitoes.  This is the one time we can leave the doors and windows open without an infestation of blood suckers.  The kids are supposed to be napping right now, but it's hard to force them back inside when the weather is so amazing!